The first call for project proposals closed on 10 April and the Joint Secretariat has received over 200 expressions of interest from all over the Alpine area, making it the call with the highest number of project proposals since the start of the programme! We would like to thank all project applicants for their proposals and their patience with the new application system: being the first users of the new eMonitoring System was not an easy task, as the presence of technical problems during the submission process created some unforeseen hurdles. Nevertheless, your participation during the inceptive stages of the submission system was highly valued, as it will contribute to its improvement for other INTERREG programmes and for applicants of future calls.

The first call was open for project proposals in Priority 1 “Innovative Alpine Space”, Priority 2 “Low Carbon Alpine Space” and Priority 3 “Liveable Alpine Space”. The following graph shows the distribution of project proposals per priority and specific objective of each priority:

The submitted project proposals are now being assessed by the Joint Secretariat in collaboration with the Alpine Space Contact Points, and in mid-June the Programme Committee will select the proposals that scored best for the second step of the application procedure. The successful applicants will be invited to further elaborate their project proposal and to submit an application form. The final project selection will take place in December 2015.

Preparing the second call

Although the first call has just closed, preparations for the second call are already underway: the Programme Committee will meet in May to discuss its timetable and terms of reference. By the time the second call opens, more website features should become available for the submission stage, such as the partner search tool and project idea database. These features will provide an improved support to project applicants, allowing them to network with each other prior to the submission stage thereby giving them the opportunity to organise partnerships, share ideas and produce high-quality proposals.

New website, new newsletter!

On 17 March the Alpine Space programme’s new website was launched. Even though some elements were still missing due to its early release, the website is growing every day and offers an improved user-friendly design.

But that’s not all… the new website is promising even more: over the coming months, the national pages will be online, giving each member state the possibility to upload country-specific documents and information in their national language.

The 2007-2013 website can now be reached on http://www.alpine-space.org and will remain active until the closure of all projects funded during the previous programming period

Upcoming events

GROW your REGIOn conference

27 April, Brussels (Belgium)

An invitation for everyone interested in smart specialisation and clusters to come together to share experiences and cluster practices in EU regions.